Apple Chief Tim Cook's $4.25 Million Pay Includes Max Bonus Amount

It's good to be king, especially when your kingdom is the land of Apple. Right now Tim Cook is the one who wears the crown and he's compensated generously for his time on the throne. According to a recent regulatory filing, Apple compensated King Cook $4.25 million in 2013, representative of a 1.9 percent bump in pay compared to the $4.17 million he received in 2012.

Cook received a base rate of $1.4 million plus more than $53,000 in benefits. The cherry on Apple's pie was a $2.8 million bonus, the most he was allowed to receive under Apple's compensation plan. A good thing too, because without that bonus pay, Cook would have recorded a net loss in 2013. How so?

When Cook took assumed the role as CEO in 2011, he was awarded 1 million restricted stock units, half of which were supposed to vest after five years and the other half after 10 years. However, Cook agreed this past summer to have a portion of his stock vest each year so the board could decide whether or not he did his duties sufficiently to keep his award, the Los Angeles Timesreports.

Based on Apple's poor performing stock, the board decided that 72,877 of Cooks shares for 2013 would vest and 7,134 shares would not, and is therefore forfeited. At Friday's closing price of $560.09 per Apple share, the stock Cook forfeited would be worth around $4 million.

If that's the case, then how did he receive the maximum bonus amount?

"The company exceeded the maximum performance goals for both net sales and operating income set by the Compensation Committee for 2013," the filing says. "Accordingly, each executive officer received the maximum payout of 200 percent of base salary under the performance-based bonus plan."

All things considered, Cook's net worth based on salary and stock forfeitures increased by around $250,000 in 2013. In other words, he won't go hungry any time soon.